The hiring ofDennis Erickson has made a big impact in Tempe, where the Sun Devils are 5-0 in his first season and ranked 18th in the country in the Associated Press poll.

With good balance on both sides of the football, the Sun Devils have been able to capitalize on a favorable schedule to start the season, and it's led to a steady building of confidence and momentum as the team gets into what figures to be a more difficult portion of the 2007 campaign. Erickson, who was the head coach at Washington State in 1987-88, has said this week that the Cougars present a bigger challenge to the ASU defense than any team his squad has faced this season. This, he said, is due largely to the talent of senior quarterback Alex Brink and the potent Washington State passing attack.